Conspicuous in its absence.

Sometimes, it's not what you say, it's what you don't say.

I heard Mike Lupica on the Sports Reporters this morning discussing the Imus firing. Lupica misread the situation. To paraphrase, Lupica said, "I usually have a pretty good idea about what's a big sports story."

As I elegantly spit my morning coffee out of my mouth, I decided to test his theory by examining his weekly Sunday column.

The Yankees currently have a third baseman who has seven homeruns in ten games. That's not only more homeruns that the Mets' third baseman, it's more homeruns than the Mets.

Mike Lupica is writing for a New York newspaper during baseball season. Only two mentions of the Yankees.

This: "Well, you could have picked me up off the floor when I found out Pavano was getting pushed back a couple of days with a sore arm."

(Tee hee.)

And this: "Sometimes my hamstrings get tight just watching the Yankees play."

(Har dee har har.)

The Yankees have injured players!

So, get worried, Yankee fans!


But we get another lengthy love letter to Jonathan Papelbon:

"If you watched Jonathan Papelbon of the Red Sox come out of the bullpen against the Texas Rangers last Sunday night on ESPN, you saw one of the most dominating efforts by a closer you're going to see all season.

And while we're on the subject: Terry Francona of the Red Sox basically did the same thing with Papelbon Friday night.

Brought him into a 4-1 game against the Angels when the Angels had first and third in the eighth and Bad Vlad Guerrero at the plate.

Papelbon struck out Guerrero with a 97-mph fastball, got Garret Anderson to fly out to end the inning.

When the Red Sox tacked on a bunch of runs in the bottom of the eighth, Papelbon was done for the night.

I don't know why managers don't do this more often, and I'm not talking about two-inning saves, necessarily.

But if you're absolutely convinced the game is on the line in the eighth, why wait until the ninth to bring in your closer?"

(But what is Plan B for the Red Sox if Papelbon gets hurt?)


There's this thing going on right under your nose. You have the privilege of watching one of the top ten baseball players ever during a hot streak. It's like watching Michelangelo drafting the Sistine Chapel. Right now, every ARod at-bat is Must See TV. The Yankees are 1-9 without ARod.

But Lupica won't mention ARod again until ARod hits into a ninth-inning double play.